Thursday, January 21, 2010

Europe Will Be More “Fun” in 2011 When Carnival Cruise Lines’ Carnival Dream Debuts

When Carnival Cruise Lines introduces their newest ship in May 2011, the 3,690-passenger Carnival Magic will debut with a schedule of 7-, 9- and 12-day Mediterranean cruises operating round-trip from Barcelona through October 2011. This marks Carnival’s first full season of Mediterranean cruises in three years, as well as the first time the line has homeported a ship in Barcelona. While the line offered a limited season of European cruises last year when it launched Carnival Dream—as it has done when introducing other new ships in recent years—it withdrew plans to homeport Carnival Liberty in Europe for 2009 due to economic reasons. Carnival has no ship in Europe for the traditional summer 2010 season and no plans have been announced at this time to deploy an additional ship from the North American-based fleet to either the Med or Baltic regions in the near future.

To commemorate the line’s Mediterranean season and satisfy past passenger demand, for the first time ever Carnival is offering an exclusive pre-sale for past guests from Jan 19 to Jan 25, including complimentary two-category upgrades, along with special pricing.* For consumers new to Carnival, the line’s full range of cruise fares, including highly attractive Early Saver rates will open on Tuesday, Jan 26.

The 130,000-ton Carnival Magic will offer a host of features popularized on its sister ship Carnival Dream (pictured above), including a WaterWorks aqua park, a stunning café/live entertainment venue called Ocean Plaza; Serenity adults-only retreat; spacious, modern facilities for children and teens; and a wide range of categories in 1,845 staterooms (her capacity is slightly larger than sister-ship Carnival Dream). Several innovations unique to the Carnival Magic will be announced in the coming months. In addition, itineraries for Carnival Magic beyond October 2011 will be announced at a later date.

“Our past guests and travel agent partners have provided a tremendous amount of feedback in terms of their desire for more Mediterranean cruises from Carnival,” said Gerry Cahill, Carnival’s president and CEO. “This extensive program in 2011 will offer an excellent variety of itinerary lengths and options for consumers to experience and explore one of the world’s most beautiful and fascinating regions aboard the new Carnival Magic. Making the decision to return to Europe is an indicator of our confidence in the increasing willingness of North Americans to travel internationally as we move toward 2011.”

* The past guest promotion is capacity controlled and available until midnight Monday, Jan 25. A valid past guest number is required at the time of booking. The promotion applies to new individual bookings for stateroom categories 4A & higher; certain restrictions apply. Upgrades are available within specific stateroom accommodation types (i.e., interior to interior, ocean view to ocean view, balcony to balcony, etc.). Ship highlights and itinerary details are available at Carnival.com.

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